Desire 2

Chapter Forty-Six

It was the last day of the cruise and I had seen Zach all of three times. I felt bad for him. I felt so bad for him and just felt like I needed to see him. I sat outside, beside Destiny in one of the lawn chairs as we watched a dance competition on one of the stages below. I wore my blue fringed bikini and aviators with my hair down on my back. I felt the eyes of two guys beside us and tried my hardest not to look in their direction. I adjusted my top and straightened the fringes while Destiny lay on her back. 

"Hey!" One shouted over the music. 

I glanced over to see him sitting directly beside me and holding my gaze. 

"Hi," I stated, trying to divert my attention away from him. 

"So, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go grab a drink with me?" 

"No thanks. I'm good," I spoke, looking straight ahead of me. 

"Come on, baby. Don't be like that," 

"Beat it," a loud, deep voice shot at him from above us. 

I glanced up at Zach who wore a green tanktop which showed off his chisled arms and a pair of black swimshorts and flip flops. The guy moved quickly, obviously sensing that Zach wasn't someone to be messed with. Zach took a seat beside me before smiling, 

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked. 

"Yeah, sure," I began, "Destiny, I'll be back in a few," 

She nodded as I stood, tossed my cover-up on and followed Zach down the stairs. We made our way into the center of the boat and found a seat looking out the window as the waves crashed against the boat. 

"So," he began. 

"I never got  to thank you. For the other night. From what I've heard, it was pretty bad," I stated. 

"There's no need to thank me. I'm just glad that we were there when it all went down," 

"Me too. I just wish I could remember what actually happened," I replied. 

"You really don't remember anything about that night?" he asked, looking somber. 

"Nope. Nothing," 

"I realized something that night," he stated. 

"What was it?" 

He deeply sighed and moved his hand to reach his head, "When we got you back from those guys, we took you in the elevator and we were taking you to our room and you were so messed up. You couldn't even keep your eyes open or stand up straight and you were just so helpless and as basically every one us started crying in the elevator, I realized that I did the same thing to you guys except that I did it on purpose. You didn't willfully do anything. It was just an eyeopener," 

I glanced up at him before speaking, "Why were you all crying?" 

"Well, Austin was holding you and you were just a wreck and your dress was basically up to your waist and you had hickeys all over your neck and Austin just broke down in tears and kept telling you how sorry he was and I was crying because you looked so messed up and Robert was crying because of Destiny and Alex was just crying because everyone else was crying and it was just awful," 

We both fell silent as we held eye contact. I took a deep breath before looking to the side and turning back to face him. 

"Zach," I began, "I don't want you to think that I don't love you," 

He looked up meeting my eyes with his and opening his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. 

"I do love you. I always will. And I'll always care about you. I want you to know that. It's just that I don't-," 

"You don't love me the way you love him," he finished. 

"Zach,"

"It's okay. Really. I know you almost always go back to your first love at some point. The only thing was that I wasn't my first love's first love," he finished before standing, pulling me up with him. 

I felt the pressure of his lips against mine as he ran his fingers through my hair. The kiss was soft. It was almost too soft to even register as a kiss. A moment later, he pulled away, holding my gaze with his. 

"I'll always love you, too," he smiled before stepping away from me and disappearing around the corner.